How to enable or disable the lock screen in Windows 10

Lock screens are something we’ve all grown accustomed to on our smartphones and tablets, but their presence isn’t quite as useful on a PC. By default Windows 10 comes with the feature enabled, and while the photos displayed are often pretty, the function itself only really serves to slow down your access to the device. Disabling the lock screen isn’t quite as simple as clicking an option in Settings, but it’s still something that can be done easily in a couple of minutes if you follow our guide below.

See also: Quick fixes for common Windows 10 problems

Disabling the Lock Screen in Windows 10

Turning off the lock screen involves creating, or editing, a file in the registry. While this might sound a bit intimidating, in reality it’s actually a straightforward process. To begin hold down the Windows key and press R, then in the box that opens up type regedit and press enter.

Now you’ll see a file tree appear. Use this to navigate to the following folder;

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREPoliciesMicrosoftWindows

then look for the folder called Personalization. If it isn’t already there then you’ll need to create it. To do this right-click on the Windows folder you just opened and then select New>Key and name it Personalization.

Now open the Personalization folder and in the right-hand pane right-click to open up the contextual menu. In here select New>DWORD (32 Bit) Value, and call it NoLockScreen.

Double-click on NoLockScreen and a popup box will appear with the Value Data box highlighted. In here change the value from 0 to 1 then click OK.

Now, when you reboot your machine the Lock Screen should be nothing but a distant memory.

Enabling the Lock Screen

Should you decide that you miss the welcoming sight of luscious photography when you turn on your PC, then re-enabling the Lock Screen is joyously simple. Follow the same process as above, but this time change the Value Data in NoLockScreen to 0 and the feature will be active once you reboot your device.